In 2013 Business Insider ranked Spartanburg as the tenth most miserable city in the United States. Contrarily, Wofford is known for its friendly “bubble:” a tight knit community that tends to remain on campus.
“We joke about the Wofford bubble,” says junior Ryan Carter in another article published on Wofford’s website. “We won’t be able to ever fully pop the bubble unless we get out.”
Writers Addie Lawrence and Elaine Best have set out to explore the world outside of the bubble, hoping to find gems and adventures in the supposedly miserable Spartanburg. In this column, they hope to be the renegades of a new movement that will inspire students to pop this bubble and explore what Spartanburg and the areas surrounding Wofford have to offer.
The Hub City Railroad Museum
Where: Magnolia Street
Price: Free
Hours: Wednesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
What it is: According to their Facebook page, the museum “tells the story of the rich textile heritage, tremendous agricultural industry, and the sole freight passenger car repair shop of Southern Railway, Hayne Shops, located here in Spartanburg.”
Our thoughts:
E: Well, if we had checked out when it was open, this might have gone better. We lingered awkwardly in an abandoned baseball field nearby that was a mix between good, old American fun and a hauntingly sad place of days gone by. The barbed wire fence surrounding the field was a nice touch.
A: The museum itself was locked, but I feel like I learned a lot about trains. For example, flashing lights and a closing gate over train tracks mean that a train is coming. This fact might seem second nature, but when train tracks are positioned in front of a train museum, they can easily be mistaken for clever advertising. I’d also like to give a shout out to the fire ants that attacked Elaine and forced her to take off her shoes in the middle of a parking lot.
E: I would like to give a shout out to Addie who stood by smiling and taking photos of me in my time of distress. Thank you, pal. As for the fire ants, I now have cute little red marks over my ankles. So thank you, fire ants.
Ratings:
E: I give train museum an honorable mention for having a fun looking caboose outside even though we didn’t get in it. Also an honorable mention goes out to the train we saw in the wild.
A: I give the museum two gold stars for potential train-related activities, but I’m subtracting 10 points for the faded parking lines that made it look like I couldn’t park to save my life.
E: Also, the fire ants get a 0/5 for at tacking me, but a 5/5 on their thoroughness and dedicated teamwork.
Magnolia Cemetery
Where: Magnolia street next to VCOM.
Price: Free
Hours: Dawn to dusk
What it is: Completed in 1936, Magnolia Cemetery contains the graves of Spartanburg locals with one of the oldest graves dating back to a death year of 1810 (the birth year is illegible). What makes Magnolia Cemetery interesting for Wofford students is that a number of Wofford “celebrities” are buried here, such as the Carlisles, DuPres, and founding professors of the college.
Our thoughts:
A: We parked in a VCOM parking lot and walked to the cemetery.
E: Who knew VCOM was real?
A: The cemetery itself was decrepit and crumbling. Tombstones were broken, graves were overgrown, and the door to the mausoleum was open. Not to mention the beer cans littered inside (yes, we saw an open mausoleum and decided to open the door even wider).
E: Perhaps not one of our smarter moves. The cemetery has these giant iron wrought gates and as you walk you’re greeted with the sight of a wide range of graves from polished and still standing to cracked and illegible. Some of the above-ground baby tombs were open and that was not okay. If we had stayed until dark, I would not have been surprised to see an army of 19th century zombie ghost babies come crawling after us. Though maybe they’d be nice and fun to hang out with.
Ratings:
A: An A- in terms of creepiness. It would have been an A, but “cemetery” is surprisingly frustrating to spell.
E: Definitely an A- for scare-factor. I would not want to be in that graveyard at night visiting the mausoleum bar.
Moral of the story:
E: Just because your adventure doesn’t work out the way you originally intended it to doesn’t mean you can’t still find ways to have fun. Also, don’t stand in fire ant hills.
A: First: why would you put a college next to a decrepit graveyard? Second: keep exploring. If you find goosebumps crawling up your arms then you’ll probably have a good story to tell.
—Elaine Best and Addie Lawrence, Staff Writers
